


Straight Talk

by dansunedisco



Category: Sanditon (TV 2019), Sanditon - Jane Austen
Genre: F/M, Idiots in Love, Misunderstandings, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 02:20:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21739981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dansunedisco/pseuds/dansunedisco
Summary: Charlotte managed a half-hour in the assembly room before making her escape.Or: all of Sanditon's meaningful conversations happen in a side room at the assembly hall.
Relationships: Charlotte Heywood & Sidney Parker, Charlotte Heywood/Sidney Parker
Comments: 28
Kudos: 122
Collections: Sanditon (2019): Long Sequels





	Straight Talk

**Author's Note:**

> i guess my new flex is writing sanditon post-canon fics

Charlotte managed a half-hour in the assembly room before making her escape. Her absence, much like her presence, would surely be scrutinized, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

The room she found was blessedly empty. She plucked a book at random from the shelf and all but plopped down into a high-backed chair stationed near the hearth. The book was flipped open as a pretense, but it otherwise remained unread.

The reason for her hasty retreat was none other than Sidney Parker.

Seeing him again was like being doused with cold water, or plunging into the sea for the first time. Exhilarating and unexpected.

She’d been away from Sanditon for nearly a year. Since she hadn’t been able to forget, she’d pressed on. In that time, she had cultivated new friendships -- thanks to Lady Susan’s influence and insistence -- and maintained the ones she’d made that first summer. She had visited London at the start of the season and moved in good society. In truth, her strong reaction to seeing Sidney again had caught her off-guard. She thought the months, weeks and days since their bittersweet goodbye would have guarded her against such turbulent emotions, but it was clear the inexplicable sway he’d had over her, even from the first, had held fast. As much as she loved Sanditon, she now wished she had found an excuse to decline Mary Parker’s invitation to visit. 

The door burst open then, Sidney himself storming in as if she’d conjured him with her thoughts. He pulled up short at the sight of her, and Charlotte’s heart leap into her throat as they brazenly appraised one another.

“Miss Heywood,” he said tightly. It was clear by his wavering stance he hadn’t meant to follow her here at all. “It seems as if we’re fated to run into each other for the rest of our lives.”

Her cheeks flamed. “Mr. Parker. Good evening. I hope all has been well with you and Mrs. Parker since we last spoke.” 

The barb flew forth without thought, and she immediately regretted her choice to indulge her temper. The tense silence that followed hung in the air between them, kindling waiting for the spark to erupt in flames. 

He lowered his gaze. “Forgive me, Charlotte--”

It was too much. She wanted to laugh. A year apart hadn’t been nearly enough time for her heart to forget him. Of course he would take the high ground now. How easily he infuriated her, and how quickly she forgave his tresspasses; and he her in turn, it seemed. She clapped the book closed and rose from her seat, and set her abused reading atop a side table. “I beg your pardon, sir, but I-- I need to leave.”

“I insist you stay. Please. You were here first, and I intruded upon your peace.”

“You did.” A flare of irritation further loosened her tongue. “You’ve intruded on my peace every day, and I fear I will never again know a moment’s rest for as long as I live--”

He reached her in three long strides; his hands cupped her face as he descended on her like a gale, kissing her so ardently her knees threatened to buckle. She felt hot and lightheaded. The world narrowed down to the press of his lips against hers, the gentle caress of his hands and the tentative sweep of his tongue. She gasped into it, simultaneously pulling and pushing him away by his waistcoat.

“Charlotte,” he breathed her name like a prayer. “Charlotte--”

It was wrong; completely wrong. 

_He is married._

Horrified to have forgotten -- purposefully, a vicious voice reminded her -- she regained her senses and shoved his chest. Though it barely put any space between them, it served its purpose of stopping him. All it would take was for someone to walk in for her reputation to be torn to ribbons, if she hadn’t already been compromised: all it would take was for someone to whisper behind their hand that both she and Sidney have been absent from the main revelry a little _too long_.

She paled at her callousness. How could she think first of herself?

“Unhand me,” she said. He did not. “ _Mr. Parker--_ let me go, you absolute scoundrel--”

He pinned her hands to his chest. “Confounding woman. I don’t understand you; no, not at all. For a year, every letter I’ve sent has gone unanswered by you, but here you stand in Sanditon--”

_Letters?_

“--You insist on running from my company, yet you won’t let me take my leave of you. And the way you _look_ at me--”

Her mouth was dry. “What letters?”

“Did you not read them?” He sent a hard breath through his nose. “No, I suppose you might burn them.”

“Confounding man,” she parroted back, “however improper it would be for us to freely correspond, I did not receive a single letter from you. I swear it. I beg you to speak plainly to me now. I cannot take much more of this.”

“As plainly as I can: my feelings for you remain unchanged, Charlotte. For as long as I live, my greatest regret will be letting you board that coach and coming away from me for as long as you have been.”

His confession was the final nail. She pressed her trembling lips together. There was no use in fighting the tears; they slid freely down her cheeks. She was transported back to that moment in Trafalgar House, when Sidney had returned from London and then proceeded to rip her beating heart from her chest with the announcement of his engagement. The pain was unbearable now just as it had been then, and she was sure she had never hated anyone in her entire life, but oh, how she _hated_ Sidney Parker. How could he be so cruel? “You dishonor me _and_ yourself. To speak of such things when you are a married man--”

“A married man--?” He laughed then, and if her hands hadn’t been firmly held in place, she would have struck him. 

He loosened his hold and she pulled her hands free of his, mortified, wondering how she had _ever_ fallen in love with a man who could do and say such things as he had presently done. There was no way to explain how he’d handled her, and she was ashamed of herself for enjoying it while it had transpired. She swiped her tears away. “After you had promised me that you would try to make her happy--”

“I see I haven’t spoken plainly enough,” he interrupted tartly. “I am unmarried, and unless present circumstances change, I will remain so. Mrs. Campion and I are no longer engaged. I see by your reaction -- and perhaps I should have known as how you’ve reacted to my advances these past few moments -- that you have been unaware of these turn of events.”

She couldn’t reply. “I feel--” Her head swam. “I need to sit.”

He led her to the settee. They sat, hands once again linked together. “You’re pale. Shall I find Dr. Fuchs?”

“No,” she laughed. “You’ve shocked me, sir. So thoroughly I believed for a moment I was to succumb to a swoon.”

“Ah, I thought I’d recognized a glint of hysterics in your eyes.”

She rolled said eyes. “Fear not, Mr. Parker, we Heywoods are of hardy stock and even stronger constitutions.”

“As demonstrated many times in the months I had the pleasure of your friendship.”

"We're friends, then?"

"Yes." He squeezed her hands. “At least, I would like us to be. If you would allow it.”

"I'm worried if I didn't fate would yet again trap us together, and in worse circumstances."

"A locked closet?"

"Or a sinking ship."

They shared a tentative smile; perhaps ruminating on all the moments in which they indeed had been thrust together.

Sidney took a breath. "Charlotte--"

The clock chimed on the hour. It felt like an eternity had passed between them, but it hadn’t been quite so long. Still, they were encroaching on an absence even a small seaside town couldn’t abide. There was still time to save what little propriety there was left to have, but they would have to move quickly. Charlotte saw that Sidney immediately had the right of it. They both stood. 

“Proceed directly to the hall and find Mary,” he said. “I will come from another entrance, so as not to--”

“I understand.” She hesitated for only a moment before pressing up on her tiptoes. Sidney met her halfway with a sweet but brief kiss. “I would know what you had written me all these months. I would know how you came to your broken engagement, and all that has happened since I left."

His eyes darkened. “I will call on Trafalgar House tomorrow.”

Uncharacteristically brazen, she dared to kiss him again.

And with that parting shot delivered, Charlotte departed the room.

**Author's Note:**

> fwiw, i embarked on this story with the intentions of writing pure smut and found i really couldn't do that without fleshing out the background, so. here we are!


End file.
